"God is love" -- seemingly one of the most agreed-upon ideas about God in Western society. However, what people tend to mean by that phrase might better be stated "Love is God." In other words, 'whatever ideas someone has about love... God must be like that.' Ironically, the idea that "God is love" primarily comes from Scripture, especially 1 John 4, which states that exact phrase. However, John is not appealing to his audience's pre-existing ideas about love (to make up a god who matches them). Instead, he explicitly intends to say the opposite: God defines love by who He is. Not only is that potentially offensive in our society, it would equally have been a challenge to his original hearers. So how could it have been good news for them? When our mistaken notions of 'love' get shattered -- especially through suffering -- we rarely embrace it. We certainly don't see it as a joy. So why did they? Let's talk about the joy of who "Love" is (1 John 4:7-21).
